18th century rinderpest outbreak in the Netherlands.JACOBUS EUSSEN / WIKIPEDIA
This past Tuesday (June 28), zoologists, veterinarians, and public health officials from around the world celebrated the second time in history that a disease has been wiped out from the face of the Earth. Rinderpest, a deadly viral disease that has plagued cattle and other cloven-hoofed animals since antiquity, now joins the ranks of smallpox, which was officially eradicated in 1979.
With the last documented case of rinderpest appearing nearly a decade ago in a wild buffalo in Kenya, the official declaration this week brings to a triumphant end an eradication campaign begun in 1945 with the creation of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the New York Times reports. It was during the FAO’s annual conference in Rome this week that the announcement was ...
